I am glad I waited a full 24 hours before writing my final blog regarding WC09. It gave me an opportunity to experience a night of celebration to help put the entire event into perspective.

In my travels on the evening/night immediately following the WC09 finals, which included the necessary bar hopping, I ran across groups of players from all sorts of teams, those that won Gold medals (the Czech men), those commiserating over failure to achieve their true potential (the Canadian men), those just happy to be there (Finland, India, Honk Kong, Caymans, among others). Never did run into any of the women’s teams, maybe they knew where the better bars were and did not want to tell the rest of us.

The common theme among everyone was they were determined to celebrate regardless of their fate in the arena. The game on the floor was done. They celebrated the fantastic event, from the extremely well organized services, the exuberant and numerous spectators, the dramatic playoff games in the women’s and men’s, both A-Pool and B-Pool, the superb officiating, the community of Pilsen, and quite frankly just the being there to experience all of it with your teammates. Camaraderie is a bond that develops best through challenges, and sport is nothing more than a series of challenges, human against human, against the elements, and/or against him/herself. And so, like comrades we all celebrated each in our own groups, and often with each other’s groups. In the end, we found out that we are all the same, the majority being decent people appreciating the moment.

I said the ‘community’ of Pilsen even though it is much larger than a small town, because the facilities and hotels were perfectly situated adjacent to the main town square, ensuring that all players were in walking distance of the arenas, food, shopping, entertainment, and partying. You constantly ran into players from various teams, which helped create relationships and a sense of a ball hockey community, even if it was on a global stage. It will be difficult to repeat in future World Championships unless they strategically duplicate what made 2009 Pilsen the best WC to date.

In my closing speech I thanked a good many people, because it takes that many and more to run a successful event. They know who they are. Just know that we all appreciated it. 

I truly believe ball hockey or street hockey, whatever you want to call it, is the best sport in the world. With 65 countries watching the final on EuroSport, I also believe that hundreds of thousands of other people will now know it as well. I am proud to be a volunteer in its growth and development. I am proud to have been part of 2009 Pilsen, and I am proud to have celebrated it with everyone else on that historic Saturday night.